Salt, Spirits, and Sam Winchester
by middleishearth
Summary: When Ben Nelson's girlfriend comes back from the dead, he feels as if his life is finally whole again. Team Free Will disagrees. Actually a crossover with one of my original stories, and that's where Ben, Emily, and Keith come from. Loosely based off 5.15 "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid." Full story with a new chapter every time the point of view changes. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

Running a hand through his unkempt hair, twenty-year-old Ben Nelson flips a couple of pages in an Abstract Algebra textbook. Giving up, he shuts the book, still staring at the cover. His dorm room is dark, and he is alone. Heaving a long sigh, he rests his elbows on the table.

"Ben?"

Slowly, his eyes reopen. This is impossible, he thinks. Surely, this can't happen.

"Ben?"

Oh, but it is.

Ben stands up, pushing in the chair with one of his ankles. His gaze is fixed on the source of the soft voice. Tears spring to his eyes, and he begins to breathe quicker. It can't be. "Emily?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on, Dean," Sam says, tapping the Impala window. "We don't have all day." Breathing out a rush of air, he leans against the car.

Finally, the driver's side door opens. "Sorry, Sammy," Dean replies, his voice muffled and distorted by the food in his mouth. "But this is probably the best small town diner burger I've ever had in my entire hunting career."

"He's right," a deep, gravelly voice agrees. Sam startles as Castiel climbs out of the car as well, holding aloft a burger.

"I thought you don't eat, Cas," Sam says.

"I make exceptions," the angel replies, finishing the last of the burger.

"Okay, Sam, what is this story again?" Dean asks once they've cleaned up and hit the road once more.

"Do you remember Sioux Falls?"

"How can I not?" Dan replies. "Poor Bobby. He sure had a hell of a time."

"Well, it's happening again."

"What?"

"It's not unnatural," Castiel pipes up from the backseat. "Rising from the dead is quite a popular occurrence."

"But it's exactly like Sioux Falls, but in Iowa City. We have one case so far, a Ben Nelson. College kid. Apparently people have reported seeing him with his girlfriend."

Dean looked over at Sam. "So what?"

Sam flipped through a sheaf of papers. "So, she died two years ago. Brain tumor."

"So we talk to Nelson, we get the story, and we salt and burn the girlfriend," Dean says. "Piece of cake."

Castiel's eyebrows wrinkle. "There is no cake here."

"He means it'll be easy," Sam says to the angel. "And I can only hope so."

Some time later, the Impala is parked in a motel parking lot, lit by only one flickering streetlight. Two floors above, Sam and Dean are flipping through more papers on the case. "So, this is Ben," Sam says, pulling out a picture of a young guy with dark hair and green eyes. "And this is the girlfriend. Meet Emily Graves."

Dean grabs the picture from Sam's hand. His eyebrows rise as he sees a teenage girl with long blonde hair leaning over a sink, applying mascara, with nothing but sweats and a bra on. "Dude," he says, passing the picture to Sam. "Risqué."

"According to her, that was taken without her permission," Sam says when he sees Dean's awestruck face. "I got anything I could find, okay?"

"No problem, man."

"Dean, she's dead."

"I'm just saying, Nelson has it good."

"Dean!"

"Stop bickering," Castiel interrupts. "Are we going to interview this man, or not?"

Dean grits his teeth and sighs. "We are, Cas, but you know how you are around people. Can you sit this one out?"

"Okay, Dean."

"Let's wait on interviewing Mr. Nelson until class is over for the day tomorrow," Sam says, arranging the papers into a file folder.

"Okay, college boy," Dean replies. "Whatever you want. I still say we scope out the town tomorrow morning, see if we can dig up some more dirt on Nelson and the girl."

Castiel looks awkwardly down at the floor. "I'll stay here, then."

Dean shakes his head. "No, Cas, you can come with us in the morning. You can use one of my old badges. Just act natural."

"Okay, Dean," Castiel repeats.

Sam rolls his eyes at the exchange. Leave it to his brother to romanticize a case. "Well, I'm going to sleep. I've had enough of this," He says, gesturing to his brother and the angel, "for one day."

The last thing he hears before dropping off is a confused sentence from Cas. "What does he mean to say, Dean? Is this sarcasm?"


	3. Chapter 3

For the first time in what seems like forever, Ben wakes up and smiles. Beside him is the girl he'd longed to be here for two years.

Emily actually looks like she aged a little, wherever she went. Her hair is longer, but the dye hasn't grown out. She looks about eighteen, and according to the math, that's how old she'd be if she hadn't-

"Ben? Ben, is there something wrong?"

Shaking his head, Ben smiles again. "No, Emily. How could there be anything wrong? You came back." Wrapping his arms around her, Ben clutches Emily like there's no tomorrow, pressing his forehead into her neck.

Emily lets her eyes slide halfway shut and looks at the slits of morning sunlight coming from the spaces in between the blinds. With a sigh, she smiles.


	4. Chapter 4

"Wake up." The angel's stone-cold voice sounds way too close for comfort.

Dean startles awake and whirls to face Castiel, his nose inches away from the angel's. "Okay, Cas," he says, trying to get up. "I'm awake."

"Okay. I'll go wake up Sam."

"Uh, no, you don't need to do that," Dean says quickly. The last thing Sam needs in the morning is Dean's angel breathing down his neck. "But I would back away."

Castiel takes a couple of steps back.

"Sammy! Get your ass out of bed! It's time to grill the town!" Dean yells across the room.

Sam stirs and sits up as Castiel gives Dean a weird look. "We're not going to eat the inhabitants of this town, Dean."

"He means we're going to ask them questions, Cas," Sam says, reaching for his sport jacket and tie. "Come on, Dean, we're wasting time."

"Who died and made you boss?" Dean whispers under his breath, grabbing his pseudo-FBI suit and badge.

Half an hour later, the trio are walking down a crowded city sidewalk. Dean has to practically hold onto Cas's arm to keep the poor angel from getting pommeled by students heading to class. Both Dean and Castiel are closely following Sam, who seems to know his way around Campus Town pretty well.

"They're all the same," he says to Dean's questioning look. "I say we find one of Ben's buddies and work from there."

"How exactly are we going to do that?" Dean asks his brother.

Sam gives him a grin in return. "You'll see. I found a couple of things when I was researching the kid."

Dean and Castiel follow while Sam walks faster.

Sam finally stops in front of a tall, mature-looking young man with light brown hair that's sticking up and swept back in the front. "Hi," Sam says to the young man. "I'm Agent Weston with the FBI, and these are my partners, Agent Frederickson and Agent Lopez. Sam flicks his badge open, and Dean and Castiel do the same, Castiel standing a little behind the others and shifting his eyes from the Winchesters to the kid. "We'd like to ask you a few questions about something that happened here recently."

The young man looks from agent to agent, and finally consents. "Okay. I'm Keith, by the way."

"Hey, Keith," Dean says. "We have reports that something strange happened here recently. Do you know Ben Nelson?"

"Know him? Yeah, we're tight," Keith replies. "What about him?"

"We think his girlfriend rose from the dead," Castiel says matter-of-factly.

Dean can't think of a way to turn that comment around, and one look at Sam tells him his brother doesn't have a clue either.

To Dean's surprise, Keith doesn't even bat an eye. "Yeah, sure, whatever you want to call it. But apparently she wasn't with Ben for a long time, and now she is. It's pretty normal." Keith's eyes narrow a bit. "Why are the feds looking into this?"

"Have you felt anything strange around campus lately? Weird drafts, cold spots, anything smelling like sulfur?" Sam fires back.

Keith looks at each man. "Um, no," he says. "Why would you want to know that?"

"Routine questions," Dean says, whipping out a legal pad. "So no creepy things? Nothing?"

Keith shakes his head, and Dean scribbles a note. Sam shoves a hand in his pocket and fumbles around. Dean hears a faint click as the EMF detector turns on, but no other sounds.

Keith's clear.

"Has Ben seemed different lately?" Dean asks, moving on.

"Well, his girlfriend gave him another chance!" Keith said, shrugging his shoulders. "How would you feel?"

Sam and Dean freeze, and Castiel glances from one Winchester brother to the other. Dean tries to say something, but all he can think of is Lisa. "I'm not exactly an expert with emotions," Castiel begins, "but I assume it would be a positive feeling."

Giving Castiel a weird look, Keith shakes his head. "I still don't know what would be criminal about this," he says, "but good luck with your investigation anyway, agents. If you'll excuse me, I have to get to class."

"Of course, Keith," Sam says, recovering quickly. "Have a nice day."

"You too, Agent Weston. Just a little something, though, it sounds like your partner in the trenchcoat had a rough night. Let him sleep it off before you interview Ben." Keith waves and walks off.

Castiel gives Dean a terrified look. "What did he mean by that?" he asks. "He knows angels don't sleep."


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you sure, Bobby?" Sam asks.

"Its the only thing I can think of, kid," Bobby replies, stirring the pot of stew he's reheating for lunch. "You don't have any other recent death records. It could be a coincidence, but also could be something with the reaper. You have to talk with it somehow."

"You really think it's Sioux Falls again," Sam says, surprised.

"Like I said, find the reaper before that girl turns. I'll call you back when I dig up a spell or something to get to it. If anything, I'll call up Pamela. Or you boys ask Cas. Maybe he has some angel mumbo-jumbo you can use." Taking the pot off the stove, Bobby's expression softens, remembering his wife. It was a bad decision to keep her alive that long when the reapers went AWOL. This girl has to go back to heaven, and quickly. Sam and Dean don't have much time.

"All right, Bobby. Thanks."

"You're welcome, Sam. Take care of yourself out there. Will you interview the kid again?"

"That's why we're headed out," Sam replies. "And we'll try our best to stay alive."

"That's pretty much all I can ask of you," Bobby says. "Call me when it's over." Letting out a breath, he hangs up and sets the receiver on the counter next to the stove. Hopefully those idjits take his advice this time.


	6. Chapter 6

Two agents brandishing FBI badges greet Ben at his apartment door as he comes back after grabbing groceries.

"Here, I can take that for you," the taller one says, reaching out a hand.

Ben passes one of the plastic grocery bags to him. "And who exactly are you?"

"I'm Agent Frederickson and this is Agent Weston," the shorter, stockier one says to Ben, and the agents show their badges one more time, in perfect sync.

"Um, hi, I guess," Ben replies. "Here, I'll unlock the door and you can have a seat, agents. I assume this is about Emily?"

Agent Weston sets the bag he was carrying on the counter and joins Agent Frederickson at the table as Ben put the rest of the bags with Agent Weston's. "I'm sorry I don't have anything for you to drink," he apologizes. "I'm only twenty."

"What's stopping you?" Agent Frederickson blurts.

Ben raises an eyebrow. "I thought you were the FBI?"

"Yeah, yeah, we are," Agent Weston says quickly, shooting Agent Frederickson a glare. "We just have a couple of questions for you."

Pulling out a chair, Ben sits across from the two agents.

"So, your girlfriend, Mr. Nelson. We have reports that she was dead, and now she's not?" Agent Weston says.

Ben nods. "Yes, that's right. Emily died April of my senior year of high school. I remember it like it was yesterday. But, now she's back."

"Where is she now?" Agent Weston asks.

"At school, trying to enroll. We had other plans in high school, but those never happened."

Agent Frederickson stares at Ben. "And this doesn't strike you as strange at all? She was dead, and now she's living and breathing! It doesn't seem at all unnatural to you?"

Shaking his head, Ben begins to speak. "Of course it does! I mean, this doesn't happen every day! But, I really don't care. I was devastated when she died. You see, she never told me about the tumor. She wanted it secret so I-" Ben exhales and rakes a hand through his hair. "So I didn't think any differently of her. Believe me, I came pretty close to finding out a couple of times, but I had no clue until she died. All I knew was that she was sick in the hospital. I spent all my time with her. I skipped every day of school, up until she died. Then, I only came back…" Ben bites his lip and takes another breath. "I only came back to school because she wanted me to go to Juilliard, and I knew I would have to pass to get in."

The agents, who had been silent for this entire speech, exchange glances. "Well, obviously that was not what happened, Mr. Nelson," Agent Weston observes. "Can you tell us why?"

Ben looks back up at the agents. "Why does the FBI even care about this, anyway? Yeah, I didn't go to the school I'd been dreaming about since the fifth grade, but so what? Why do you care?"

"Anything helps, Mr. Nelson. Just tell us all you know," Agent Frederickson says.

Ben nods again. "Well, I ended up going here, to Iowa, because that's what my dad wanted."

"I know all about that," Agent Frederickson cuts in. "Go on."

"I also went here because I couldn't touch my trumpet again. I was at the top of my section from age ten on, but I just couldn't do it anymore. Emily was a trumpet player, too, and it reminded me too much of her." Ben pauses, collects himself, then speaks again. "So I went to Iowa. And there I was, studying for Abstract Algebra, when she said my name. After all that time, she was back. She is back. It's been the best days of my life." Ben grins at the table, then at the agents, who return broken deadpans. "What? What's wrong?"

Agent Frederickson takes a long, deep breath. "Okay, Mr. Nelson, you aren't going to believe us, but that girl isn't your girlfriend. She's going to turn on you, and soon. Has she begun to get hungry yet? Like, really hungry?"

Ben's eyebrows rise and knit across his forehead. "What are you saying? No!" He leans closer to the agents. "You're not actually FBI, are you?"

Agent Weston sighs. "No. I'm Sam Winchester and this is my brother, Dean. Trust us. We deal with this stuff for a living. We know about this stuff. It's happened before. People died, Mr. Nelson. Your girlfriend will die. Again," Sam stumbles.

Standing up, Ben's mouth opens, then closes. "No. No, Sam and Dean, no. You're crazy!"

"We get that a lot," Dean replies. "And you have to trust us. We're telling the truth." Turning to his brother, he raises an eyebrow. "Should we show him the car?"

"What car?" Ben asks.


	7. Chapter 7

Dean grins and lifts the hidden bottom in the trunk of his baby. Inside rests an arsenal of guns, salt, iron, and silver, plus a couple of little things he and Sam had accumulated over the years. Every little thing has its place, thanks to Sam's organizational skills. Had it not been for his brother's OCD, this compartment would be a mess of guns and knives.

The only sound in the apartment parking lot is the rushed gasps of air as Nelson breathes. "You aren't FBI," is all he can repeat.

"No," Sam replies. "We're hunters. You know ghosts, monsters, and all that? They're all real, and it's up to us to kill them before they kill anyone else."

Nelson, still breathing hard, smiles a tiny bit. "So, there are sparkly vampires running around this town that only you know about?"

"Not those kinds of vamps," Dean says back. "Real vampires are scary sons of bitches, I will tell you that. Also, Bigfoot? That's fake."

All Nelson can do is laugh breathlessly. "You're not kidding," he stutters.


	8. Chapter 8

Ben collapses into a chair opposite the people he thought were FBI agents back in his apartment. "Please re-explain everything you just said."

Agent Weston - no, Sam - exhales a deep breath and goes through the story with Ben once more.

_The ground shifts in front of a familiar gravestone. The leaves rustle as something moves beneath the dirt. _

_Suddenly, a hand breaks to the surface, then a torso. The figure is stained with grime and streaked with brown and black from the soil beneath. Gasping for air, the figure holds out a hand, inspecting the fingers and opening and closing a fist._

_There is a ring on the hand. Drawing the hand closer, a tiny gold ring glints in the moonlight. It's a simple band, and it's tied into a little knot._

_It's the promise ring._

_The figure that just emerged from my grave-_

_is me._

"We actually had something like this in the hometown of another hunter," Sam finishes. "It was something to do with the reaper in the town. She was gone. But we got her back, along with all the others. And we'll have to do that here, and soon."

Ben stares at the two brothers, unable to comprehend what the younger one just told him. "You're going to kill my girlfriend? Again?"

"Well, we technically didn't kill her the first time, if that's any consolation," Dean replies. His brother hits him in the arm.

Standing up, Ben runs both hands through his hair. "No! You can't, you can't do that! Please! Maybe it'll be different this time. Maybe she won't turn. Just please, you can't take her away from me."

Sam stands up as well and rests a hand on Ben's shoulder. "We know what you're going through. Trust us, we've lost plenty ourselves."

"No! Don't touch me!" Ben yells, jerking away. Killing is all these people do! If anything, they've caused the most loss! No one could how how terrible Ben felt the morning of Emily's funeral. It wasn't humanly possible. "You don't know anything about this stuff! You can't even begin to imagine what I had to go through! I would walk past firearms stores, longing for the day I could buy one and shoot myself!" Ben collapses into the chair and pulls a small, square box with beveled edges from his pocket. It's red, and it's beautiful. Cracking the box open, he suppresses a cry.

The box tumbles to the ground, and Sam picks it up and looks at the ring inside.

"I was going to propose to her!" Ben shouts at the Winchesters. "I bought this after prom! That's how long I'd known! She was perfect! She was the world to me!" Ben's voice cracks. "And now she's back, and so help me God I will not let anyone take her from me again."

Still clutching the red box, Sam fights tears. This Ben kid sounds a lot like a younger, more naïve version of himself.

"We should leave," a deep voice says from across the room. It sounds like someone driving on a gravel road slowly and painfully. "She's coming."

Ben raises his head to see a man in a trenchcoat standing opposite him. With a yelp, he nearly falls off the chair.

"Cas!" Dean exclaims in annoyance as he rises from his seat. "Don't scare him! He's been through enough."

"There's no time for pleasantries, Dean," the man named Cas answers. "We need to vacate the building, and take the kid with us."

Ben tries to open his mouth, but his voice is interrupted by the click of the doorknob. Tapping on her phone, purse over her shoulder, Emily Graves enters the room.

Sam's first instinct is to hide the box. Shoving it into his coat, he looks from Castiel to Dean.

"We know what you are," Castiel sneers at the girl.

"Ben?" she asks, walking over to her boyfriend. "Who are these people? Why are they talking to you about me?"

"We're, uh," Dean begins.

"You know who we are. And you know we're onto you," Cas says to Emily, only making the situation worse.

"Okay," Ben interrupts, stepping in front of his girlfriend. "You three can leave. Do what antisocial trenchcoat says. I'm going to forget this ever happened."

Dean's eyes flit over to Sam's. They both know something is terribly wrong here.

When Sam looks back up at the girl, her blue eyes are gone. They flash all black for a millisecond, and she grins wickedly at the Winchesters.

A millisecond is all Castiel needs. He rips Dean's knife from his back belt loop, causing the elder Winchester to shriek and jump away. In one smooth move, he plunges the knife into the girl's stomach. Both her and Ben scream.

"What the hell did you just do?!" Ben shouted at the angel. "You stabbed her! What kind of person does that?!"

"Me," Castiel replies.

"Not helping," Dean hisses at him. He slides to the floor and kneels down next to Ben. "Kid," he says gently. "She's gone."

"Get away from me!" Ben repeats.

Sam tries to stutter something to the broken young man, but gives up. Grabbing Dean's and Castiel's arms, he runs from the room.

Ben holds Emily's body close, unable to control his cries. He's hurting and betrayed, but most of all, he's angry at the Winchesters and Cas for not leaving the goddamn knife at his apartment.


	9. Chapter 9

"You really think we should do this?"

Dean shuts the trunk of the Impala, shovel in hand. "It's what we do after every case, Sammy. We got to put her to rest. It's been long enough to rebury her, and something tells me Nelson wouldn't have her cremated."

"Dean's right," Cas agrees, holding up another shovel.

Sam crosses his arms. "You're actually going to dig, Cas?"

"He's taking your place," Dean says to him. "Something about this case is eating you, Sam. I know you."

Looking down at the ground, Sam wraps his fingers around the tiny box still in his coat. When he finally glances back up, Dean and Castiel are already walking toward the cemetery gate, talking about who-knows-what.

Sam follows, hands still in his coat pockets. Dean is right. Something about this case is eating him. He can relate to Ben, and he knows exactly how lost, alone, and powerless Ben must feel.

Dean and Cas heave shovelful after shovelful of dirt from the growing hole. Sam stands a few feet back and watches as they shape the hole into a rectangle and dig deeper. Dean's strokes come naturally to him, while Castiel tries his best to keep up and hide the sweat on his brow to impress Dean.

"What did Bobby say?" Dean calls back to Sam in between digs.

"He wasn't that surprised. Usually demons only posses the living, but it's not unheard of for them to posses the dead. They just have to be powerful demons. Besides, you know what you always say."

"It's always demons, Sammy," Dean says with a grin.

Sam gives his brother as much of a smile he can give back to him as his fingers grasp the ring box.

"I guess he was glad it wasn't a repeat of Sioux Falls, then," Dean continues. "We only had one dead person to take care of."

"Dean."

"What?"

"Um, Dean?" Castiel says. "I think I've hit something."

"Awesome job, Cas!" Dean exclaims, clapping the angel on the back.

Sam pretends he doesn't see Cas wince.

Brushing the dirt from the lid of the casket, Dean cracks it open and pulls out his lighter. He dumps salt into the coffin first, then pours gasoline over the salt and body with a flourish. He takes a bow, and Cas smiles.

Sam looks away as he lights the fire.

The two brothers and the angel stand over the grave, letting the fire burn itself out. It sends sparks and ashes spiraling toward the sky, and Sam almost thinks the spectacle is beautiful.

Keeping his eyes on the sparks, Sam cracks a smile. Maybe this is beauty, and it's Emily's last performance.

Castiel and Dean cover the casket with dirt once again. When they're finished, they walk off, leaving Sam staring at the gravestone.

"I'm sorry, Ben," Sam whispers, hearing his own voice crack.

Kneeling down, he pulls the box from his pocket and props it open. Setting it in the freshly turned dirt, he blinks back tears.

Ben should be back for it soon.


End file.
